Breadcrumbs

3 Effective Ways to Connect with Millennials

Millennials thrive off of being connected to one another. They don’t want your run-of-the-mill products and services from big name brands or mom and pop shops.

They want a personalized experience that is specifically catered to their needs and preferences, while making them feel part of an exclusive community or movement.

If you are a business, a brand, a person, or a company that is trying to target millennials, what are the best ways to do it?

How can you take a simple product or idea and use it to create something that these passionate consumers want to be part of for life?

1. Using the Right Platforms

One of the simplest ways that you can get in touch with your millennial consumer base is to hang out in the same places that they do – on social media. Take an inventory of the platforms that you use.

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Instagram

Snapchat

Tumblr

YouTube

These are some of the most commonly checked accounts in the millennial social media arsenal. Now, out of those platforms, select two of them that you like the best, are using actively, and fit the best with your brand.

This has a lot to do with the kind of products or services that you or your brand provides, and what kind of media it lends itself to. There are 3 main types of shared media: text, pictures, and video.

Which one exhibits the character of your brand the best to your millennial community?

If you are a handmade jewelry company, Instagram and Pinterest would be the perfect showcases for your custom-made bling.

Have a lot of fun activities and events going on with your brand? Shoot some videos to share on Snapchat and upload to YouTube.

Maybe most of your audience is on Facebook. If so, you need to start sharing pictures, video, and fun or informative text posts at least once per day.

Choose two accounts that you enjoy using, that fit your brand, and that millennials are actively utilizing. Design a posting calendar for yourself which is appropriate for the platform you are using so that you can consistently produce quality content that will keep your millennial audience engaged.

2. Connect With Key Influencers in Your Market

Collaborating with other key influencers and personalities in your market is another incredible way to create buzz and spread word of mouth about your brand.

For example, think about some of the companies that you are familiar with and who they are using to promote their products. Think about Nike’s relationship with big name athletes like Michael Jordan, Lebron James, and Tiger Woods.

Notice how Reebok was able to completely redefine their brand and image by partnering with the Crossfit organization and Crossfit athletes around the globe. Bud Light has been partnering with Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer to create hype during an election year.

Those are some massive examples of building relationships with key influencers, but you don’t need to reach for professional athletes and top notch celebrities to promote your brand to the right people.

Search for four or five key influencers in your market that are actively using the social media platforms that you (and your millennial consumers) use. Look back through their posting histories to see if they have been promoting other products, companies, or services.

With many influencers, you can either offer to send them a free product in return for a post that promotes you, or offer to pay them to promote your post. Reach out to them by commenting on one or more of their posts or sending them a message so that you can make them an offer and generate some buzz for your brand.

3. Engage With Your Millennial Audience

Creating engaging content that sparks activity and conversation is one of the best ways that you can start building a loyal tribe of millennial followers and customers. When you are creating content for your social media, make sure that you engage your audience.

Ask questions to your followers so they feel their feedback is valued.

Include calls to action like liking, commenting, sharing, retweeting, reposting, or clicking a link.

Create polls so that your community can vote on something fun or valuable with your brand.

Millennials have the need to be part of a community or an experience that is greater than themselves. After that, you have to keep the conversation going.

Make sure that you are taking time to respond to comments and messages, as well as rewarding your loyalists for sharing your content with their personal networks.

One of the best ways to get feedback on your brand is by reaching out to the community that you want to serve and grow. Using this strategy will strengthen your brand’s credibility while increasing your visibility to millennials.